Ballets Russes

By Richard Shead

Book Overview

A history of the Ballets Russes through the Diaghilev years, which also comments on the reception and influence of the troupe. This is a new edition of the title originally published by Apple Press in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155521438X
• ISBN13: 9781555214388
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Wellfleet
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 3.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 13.3" x 1.0" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Greatest star was Leon Bakst, the set designer!!!

I very rarely buy a book for the pictures, unless it's a book about maps, gardening, or handicrafts. This book is a major exception. The Ballets Russes, lead by the great producer, Sergei Diaghilev was home or patron to the foremost dance and musical composition talents of the first half of the 20th century, the foremost being dancers Nijinsky and Leonide Massine and composers Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Darius Milhaud. What may be easily fogotten is the third leg of the company's artistic greatness, the graphic designs of Leon Bakst, who did most of the scenic and costume designs. This can easily be visualized in a moment from a scene in 'The Red Shoes', where the Diaghilev-like character approves the senic designer's drawings in a moment, as 'perfect, as usual'. Baksk's drawings are very much of his age, laying somewhere between 19th century Art Nouveau and the 20th century of Picasso. The most wonderful aspect of the designs is that they seem to fit so well into the mood of the new music, especially that from Stravinsky in 'The Rites of Spring' and 'Les Noces'. The book has certainly served me well as an occasional reference when, for example, I wanted to verify that the choreographer of the 1935 movie version of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' was indeed a former member of the Ballets Russes troupe, and Nijinsky's sister!!! Thjis is one book i recommend wholeheartedly exclusively for the value of the color pictures!